Wednesday, November 4, 2009

There is an unconfirmed rumor that Mustafa Ibrahim AlSalih, Vice Chairman / Managing Director of Adeem Investment Company Kuwait and a Board Member of Investment Dar Bank Bahrain ("IDBB"), an "Islamic" investment bank, has resigned due to differences over strategy.

The Investment Dar Company Kuwait, also an "Islamic" investment bank, ("TID") is the major shareholder in IDBB. TID and Adeem have partnered in some investments including the purchase of Austin Martin.

The rumor is that Mustafa objected to certain actions TID proposed to take at Investment Dar Bahrain. Since major shareholders generally get their way, a director opposed to the majority's wish might resign if he felt strongly enough.

One article also unconfirmed and therefore a rumor suggests a possible reason he might have felt the need to resign. Another from a TID press release may also indicate possible areas of conflict between TID and IDBB. See the third paragraph.

What's less clear is why he would resign from Adeem as well. Perhaps Adeem is supporting TID's proposal at IDBB? Or it may be something else.

What makes this story worthy of note is that TID is the midst of the very difficult debt restructuring of KD1 billion (US$3.5 billion) of its own liabilities.

That suggests a post on TID would be timely. And, perhaps, one on Global Kuwait, another major Kuwaiti investment firm in the midst of a debt restructuring.

Given the TID link, more news is likely to come on this story.

Stay tuned.

And, finally, while it should be clear from the above, it's important to note that I am merely commenting on rumors rather than vouching for their accuracy.